


Our Eyes Work Just Fine (No Lens-Flare Included)

by moonlitfog



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Fluff, Frottage, Hurt/Comfort, Language, M/M, Prompt Fic, Sexual Content, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-06
Updated: 2012-05-06
Packaged: 2017-11-04 22:20:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/398832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonlitfog/pseuds/moonlitfog
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A whole bunch of excuses to make pretty men cuddle. Technically a 5+1, I suppose.<br/>Buckleup-meme prompt fill that I wrote for another prompt that got filled when I was half finished with this. It worked for another prompt so here it is. This was the prompt I shoe-horned it to fit:<br/>Cheer me up please?<br/>I've had a crappy week. My BFF (and the love of my life) got married. I got to watch and say "congratulations". I twisted my ankle. These are the highlights.<br/>So I want something where Bones gets "the galaxy's favorite captain" Jim and they ride off into the sunset/lensflare. Reboot. Cuddling a must. More optional.<br/>Another beta failure and may give you diabetes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Our Eyes Work Just Fine (No Lens-Flare Included)

“Damn. What the hell? How can it be so damned cold? This is San Francisco, not the North Fucking Pole.”

“A shuttle crashed and took out the power grid, and the generators overloaded. It's a clusterfuck of epic proportions. They don't think we're going to get power or heat back until tomorrow at the earliest. We can either go over to the assembly hall where they have a portable generator and thermal blankets and stay there for the night, or we can stay here and keep warm as best we can.”

“I ain't goin' to hang out at what's goin' to turn out to be the frat party from hell.”

Jim watched as Len wandered around, gathering the spare blankets, two pairs of sweat pants, a thermal undershirt, a sweater and a sweatshirt, extra socks and who the hell keeps mittens?

“Mittens, Bones?”

Len pinkened. “My mama sent them last winter. I just forgot I had ‘em until now.”

“How the hell many layers are you going to try to wear, anyway?”

Jim watched in amusement as the clothes started going on. When Len tossed a blanket to him, then spread the other on his bed, Jim shook his head. It was chilly, sure, but not that cold. Len rolled up in the blankets, looking so much like a mummy that Jim started out-right laughing.

“You poor little hot-house flower. A little cold is good for you. Keeps you hale and hearty.”

“Cold is for Eskimos and people too stupid to come in out of it.” The grumble was almost unintelligible, muffled as it was by all the layers.

“How can you even breathe? The only thing I can see is your eyes.”

“Don't need to breathe. Need to be warm.”

Jim started to feel sorry for him when a shiver wracked Bones. Well. A little cuddling wouldn't kill him, and if it made Bones feel better, it'd all be good. He gathered the blankets off his bed, spread them across Bones's bed and untucked the man. Slipping in beside him, he pressed up to him.

“Jim. What the fuck you think you're doin'?”

“Just keeping warm, Bones. It'll be warmer with both of us together than with each of us separately. Now, just shut up and go to sleep.” The last thing he remembered was Bones's arms curling around him, and their bodies molding together as they snuggled through the night.

Len's shivers stopped and he curled closer into Jim's heat, reveling in the warmth soaking into him. On reflection, listening to Jim's even breathing, feeling the arms holding him tight, this wasn't the worst night of his life.

~O~

They were limping home on reduced power, environmentals were screwed, and Len had finally gotten Sickbay to the point where he thought he would be able to leave and actually sleep for a good six hours. He made his way to his cabin and opened the door to find Jim sitting on the floor at the foot of his bed.

"How long you been here, kid?”

“Dunno. A bit. How are the Vulcan survivors doing? And how's Pike?”

“He's stable, and the survivors are doin' as good as they can. Figured I might get a little sleep while I could. You got anywhere to stay?”

“Nah. I don't feel right about staying in Pike's rooms. Thought I might crash here if you don't mind.”

“Come on, let's sleep. In the bed. I'm not lettin' you sleep on the floor or the couch.”

They curled up in the bed, pressed together, Jim's back pressed to Len's chest. Len wrapped his arms around Jim, feeling the man's tremors ease as one of his hands came up to entwine with Len's. Warmth, emotional and physical, filled the bed and they lay like that for a while, needing the closeness. They let the cares of the days immediately following the mess with the Narada leech away, allowed the responsibilities to fall by the wayside, and finally slept.

~O~

“Damn it, Jim. I’m a doctor, not a crash test dummy.”

“Well, how the hell was I supposed to know those pirates were just waiting to shoot down our shuttle? It’s not like I planned for us to get stranded on an ice world. Fuck, this makes Delta Vega look enticing.”

“Oh, well, now. Ain’t that just spiffy. Don’t that just make me feel all kinds of better.”

“At least I got them before we crashed. It’d be a lot worse if they were still around to take us out. And the emergency beacon is still transmitting, so Spock’ll be along soon. He’s probably already on his way.”

“Don’t talk to me about that green-blooded hobgoblin. It’s his fault we’re here. If he hadn’t decided it would be more efficient for the ship to go to Alton Cruxis while we made a quick side trip to Grenor we wouldn’t be here.”

Jim snapped. “I’m the one who decided on the side trip, and the one who thought it would be a nice break to take a shuttle instead of just beaming down. It’s not his fault, Bones, and you need to play nice. Be a big kid, not a baby.”

A baleful silence followed that statement, Len’s glare filled with the fury of an animal rights activist discovering a Klingon spit-roasting a puppy. Jim wondered if his lips would actually fuse together, they were compressed so tightly.

“Relax, Bones. It could be worse and your attitude isn’t helping it get better.”

"How could it possibly be worse?”

The horrified look on Jim’s face stopped him cold. When he started to turn his head to see what Jim was looking at through the crazed front window, Jim breathed, “Don’t move. Freeze.” His lips were barely moving and the words were almost unheard over the crackling of the snow under a heavy tread. “I don’t think it can see us in here, but movement might draw its attention.”

Len paled and his fingers clenched when the shuttle rocked. There was a heavy snuffling, a grating sound and a snort as the creature tested the shuttle for edibility before dismissing it as not worth its time. It turned, and an appendage sent the shuttle into a grating spin that lurched to a stop with the shuttle half on its side.

Len got a glimpse of a behemoth, a monstrous bi-pedal chimera with scales and insectile mandibles, taloned six-digit hands and a spiked, heavily muscled tail. It gracefully glided away with the fading sound of compressing snow.

The men collapsed side-by-side on the lower-most bench and breathed identical sighs of relief.

“Remind me never to ask how something can possibly get worse.”

“Never do that Bones. If you do, make sure I’m there to fix it. Jim Kirk makes everything better. I should be cloned and sold as an all-purpose cure-all.”

Len had to laugh at that. “Well, if you don’t make it better, you at least make it interesting.” Neither mentioned that the laugh was tinged with hysteria.

Jim maneuvered around to grab the thermal blankets and portable warming packets, as well as the emergency food and water rations. Splitting a nutrient bar and drink of water, the two bundled up, warming packets wedged against their bodies. Sitting curled together, nestled under the blankets, arms around each other as they lay back against the canted side of the shuttle, Jim decided things were all right.

He turned his head to Len. “You know Bones, there’s nobody I’d rather be stuck with in a situation like this.” His smile was sweet, and Len grunted, a smile peeking through the irritation.

“Yeah. Guess I can say the same.”

~O~

It was supposed to have been a cakewalk, an easy away mission to survey an uninhabited chunk of rock. There was nothing remarkable on the scans, no anomalies, just a barren wasteland waiting to be checked off the list of 'shit we found that might be good for something other than taking up space'.

They had been on the ship for a month with no distractions and they were all a little stir crazy. When Jim had come to Len and said, “Come on. Come down and take a walk. Get off the ship for a bit. It'll be a nice break,” Len hadn't seen any reason to demure. That should have been the first clue that things were going to go to hell on greased skids.

As the away team spread out, Jim and Len wandering toward a rock outcropping a klick away. They crossed a small space that looked like nothing so much as a dried creek bed and were staring at an unusual cluster of crystals protruding from the cliff face. That's when it all went to shit.

Light flared across the atmosphere in layers, a coruscating Aurora Borealis in pinks and greens and lavenders. They could _hear_ the waves of colors, a weird wailing that sent shivers down their spines. Then the ground trembled and lurched. They were thrown to the ground and rocks started raining around them as the cliff face began sloughing off.

Jim rolled on top of Len, shielding him with his own body and grunted when a chunk dropped on his ribs. When the shaking stopped, Len lifted his face from the dirt and pushed up against Jim.

“You can get off now, Jim. Jim?”

When there was no answer, he wriggled out from under Jim’s dead weight (and how he hoped that wasn’t literally true). Sitting up, he visually scanned Jim as he pulled his pack closer to dig out the tricorder. He hoped the blood trickling from under Jim’s forehead was from a minor abrasion. It looked like his right forearm was broken. He had to move to the other side of Jim and shove with his feet to lever the rock off Jim’s body.

Running the tricorder over the man, he was slightly reassured. Jim had the devil’s own luck. How he’d been hit with a rock that size and only received cracked ribs instead of a shattered ribcage, punctured lungs and ruptured internal organs, Len would never know. He wasn’t going to complain, though.

The broken arm was a compound fracture. Jim was probably concussed from the head injury, but it didn’t appear there was any inter-cranial swelling, hemorrhaging or fractures to his skull. The tricorder didn’t pick up any spinal injuries, so he rolled Jim over to get a look at his front. The left side of his face was a mess with the swollen laceration on his forehead, a black eye, another laceration to his cheek and a dislocated jaw.

Len tried to comm the Enterprise, but got only broken fragments of garbled speech before it dropped off to white noise. He didn’t have any better luck reaching anyone in the landing party.

Len sighed and thanked everything and everyone he could think of that Jim was unconscious as he shoved hard on the mandible to pop it back in place. Damn, he wished he’d followed his standard modus operandi and brought a full medkit instead of this bare-bones pack. Spreading the contents out, he realized he didn’t even have a dermal regenerator.

He carefully split Jim’s sleeve to the elbow and cleaned the bone fragments protruding through Jim’s skin. He braced his foot in Jim’s armpit and pulled until the bones in Jim’s forearm pulled back through the skin and aligned, then cleaned the wound as best he could. Butterfly strips and tape kept the wound closed and he bandaged it before Len cobbled together a splint for Jim’s arm. Wrapping the slit sleeve around the mess, he bound it around the splint to keep it as protected as he could.

He taped up the lacerations and ribs then decided to move Jim into shelter before night fell. Jim was still unconscious and Len was getting worried. He looked around and decided to pull Jim under the outcropping. He didn’t feel comfortable leaving Jim to scout for a cave, and wasn’t sure it would be safe to stay in one anyway, if there were going to be more tremors.

The outcropping provided an overhang to keep things from falling on them, but they weren’t hemmed in. It had survived the previous tremors, so hopefully it would last through any subsequent aftershocks. He pulled Jim over to the shelter, pressing him against the cliff face, and peered around for anything potentially burnable. He couldn’t see anything but dirt, rocks and more dirt.

Sighing, he turned back to Jim. Patting his face, calling his name, even shaking him proved fruitless. Len looked through the drugs he had on hand. He found a broad spectrum antibiotic Jim could tolerate, enough non-narcotic analgesics that he should be able to keep Jim at least comfortable for a couple of days if they were there that long, and a mild stimulant to which Jim wasn’t too allergic. Hopefully the antihistamine would mitigate the allergic reaction. He doped Jim up and started shaking Jim again.

“C’mon Jim, wake up for me. I need you to open your eyes now. Come on, come back. Damn you, wake up.”

After what felt like an eternity, Jim’s eyelids fluttered and he roused enough to mumble, “B’nes?”

“That’s it, wake up. Come on, open your eyes for me. Talk to me.”

“Wha’ happen’? Where’re we?”

“Do you remember beaming down to look around? Remember an earthquake?”

Jim paused, eyes slitted in concentration. “Don’ ‘memer.”

Len wasn’t surprised, but wasn’t happy, either. “We beamed down to look around a dirt covered hellhole. There was an earthquake and a mountain fell on you.”

“Oh. ‘S why I hurt.”

“Where do you hurt, Jim?”

A pause. “E’rywhere.” Petulantly, he added, “Beam up.”

“We can’t, Jim. I can’t keep in communication long enough to say hi.”

“Go fin’ th’ udders.”

Jim was slurring his words and it took some concentration to figure out what he was saying. “Go find the others?”

Jim grunted in assent.

“If you think I’m leaving you to wander around hopin’ to find someone, you’ve got another think comin’, Jim. You can’t get rid of me that easy.”

“Don’ wanna ge’ rid o’ you. Need you.”

Len sat and pulled Jim’s head onto his lap. He stroked Jim’s hair, carefully avoiding the bruised area. Softly he replied, “Yeah. I need you too, kid.”

“’M nod a kid. Fee’s good. ‘S nice.”

“Yeah, but next time I'd rather do this without the injuries. Damn you, Jim. One of these days you're gonna give me a heart attack.”

“Keeps you 'lert.”

“I could do without the adrenaline crashes. How's your head feeling?”

“Hurts. Kinda sick.”

“That could be from your head or the arm. Or both.”

“'S wrong wi' m' arm?”

“It's broken, Jim, so don't be tryin' to do anything with it, OK? Just lay here and let me take care of you. For a change. I don't want to be havin' to chase you down to sedate your ass, y'hear?”

Jim huffed out a chuckle, then winced. “Don' make me laugh, Bones. But doesn' hurt so much now.”

Len switched hands, stroking Jim's forehead and hair with his left hand, while he stroked Jim's cheekbone, then ran his hand across the man's chest. Jim reached his left arm up to tangle his fingers with Len's. They stayed that way, Len talking to Jim, dosing him when the analgesics wore off, holding Jim's hand and giving him sips of water and bites of nutrition bars.

It was fortunate that it wasn't a typical desert; the temperature didn't drop drastically. They were able to stay comfortable during the thirteen hour night and it was just after false dawn when Len heard a shout. He saw Lt. Makay wave then turn away. Twenty minutes later the rest of the away team was gathered around.

Jim's head had mostly cleared during the night and he was able to go longer without pain medication. Miraculously, the open wounds didn't appear to be infected. He was sitting up going over the group's provisions with Lt. Makay and Ensign Robineax when the Enterprise was able to make contact and beam them up.

~O~

Jim and Len were sitting on the couch in Jim's rooms, sipping bourbon. Jim's stockinged feet were stretched out before him and he looked down at Len's shoes. Well, now. That wouldn't do. He toed at the heel of Len's shoe, trying to push the shoe off his foot. Len tilted his head against the back of the couch and lifted his brow.

“The fuck you doin', Jim?”

“Take your shoes off and stay a while.”

Len snorted, but kicked the shoes off and into the corner. He wiggled his toes, secretly indulging in the new freedom. “There. Happy now?”

“Ecstatic.” Jim sighed. “I didn't think we were going to get those asshats to get their acts together and sign that treaty.”

“I thought you didn't believe in no-win scenarios.”

“I don't, but this almost made me change my mind.”

“You did good, kid.”

“Wasn't me so much as Ambassador Greeley. Personally I think he blackmailed them into signing. The shitty thing is, I don't even care. It's done, so we can leave and be done with this crapfest.”

Len glanced sidelong at Jim, surprised at the gravity and trace of bitterness threading his voice.

“C'mere, kid.” He pulled Jim to him, arm wrapped around his waist, and Jim settled his head on Len's shoulder with a deep sigh. Jim curled his arm across Len's chest and he closed his eyes.

“Thanks, Bones. Needed this.”

“I know. Me too.”

That was how they woke the next morning, wrapped around each other, Jim's head pillowed on Len's shoulder and Len's cheek pressed to the top of Jim's head.

~O~

Jim stalked into Len's office and threw himself down in the chair. Len was going to make a snarky comment until he glanced up and saw the tight lines around Jim's eyes and mouth. His shoulders were tense, hands rubbing over his thighs and his foot was tapping. The man looked like he was ready to explode.

“Just a sec, Jim. Let me finish this bit on this report.”

Len filled in the last details on the report about the Korsian epidemic and sent it off to Starfleet. Rising, he grabbed Jim's arm and levered him up and out the door before him. He called to the first nurse he saw. “Stevens! I'm leaving a bit early. Comm me if something comes up.”

“What are you doing, Bones, you can't just leave, can you?”

“Nothin's goin' on here. No patients, it's been slow all week. It won't kill anyone for me to leave 30 minutes before shift end.”

He dragged Jim to his quarters and pushed him down on the couch. He poured them both a shot of whiskey and settled on the couch by Jim. Sipping it, he let the quiet settle on them before setting the empty glasses on the low table.

“OK. What's got you so upset?”

“What makes you think I'm upset?”

Len snorted. “Seriously? I know you better than anyone. I know when you're upset. So, spill.”

“I just broke up with Melia. Well, she broke up with me.” Jim was silent for a minute, jaw tensing, then he continued. “She said I'd been with too many people, said I wasn't trustworthy, I'm shallow and sleazy. Said nobody'd ever want to be with me for more than just a quick fuck.” Jim tried to say it all offhandedly, tried to say it like he'd say “Nice day today,” or “It's getting late.” Len heard the underlying pain and insecurity Jim tried to hide.

“Were you that into her? You care a lot for her?”

Jim snorted, a half-smile quirking at his lips before it faded into a frown. “No. It's not that. I barely knew her. It just... it struck a cord, you know? Am I really like that? Do you see me that way? Tell me the truth, Bones. Don’t try to make me feel better. Just tell me.”

Len paused long enough Jim turned fully to face him, throat working to swallow against the lump choking him. “I've never lied to you. Do you really think I'd still be hanging around with you if you were like that? Do you think you'd have the loyalty and love of this crew?”

Jim shrugged his shoulders, doubt evident. “Yeah, maybe. You're loyal, so's the crew. Maybe you all just deal with my flaws.”

“Well, you do have flaws, but so does everyone.” Len studied Jim, then added quietly, “She was wrong, you know. You aren't like she said. I think maybe from now on, you better just stick with me, forget the little floozies who think they're better than everyone else.”

“Huh?”

Len cupped Jim's cheek. “We've been together for years now. We work together. We need each other. We know each other better than we know anyone else and we still love each other. Yeah, Jim, we like each other, but we love each other, too. You're a genius, but you can be kind of thick sometimes.”

Len leaned toward Jim, slowly closing the distance between them and paused, their lips almost touching. When Jim didn't pull back, didn't protest, he pressed their lips together. Jim made a small sound that shot down Len's spine and wrapped his arms around Len, pulling their chests together. Their lips parted, tongues flicking together before sliding into a warm, comfortable exploration.

When they finally drew apart, their breathing quickened, Jim asked, “You sure, Bones? I can be a real fuck-up, and I almost give you heart attacks all the time.”

“Yeah, well, we're all fuck-ups from time to time, and I'd rather you give me a heart attack than be bored to death by someone else. I wouldn't have said anything if I didn't mean it.”

Jim looked like he'd just found an oasis in the Sahara. “Bones,” whispered from his lips before he crushed their mouths together again, devouring Len in a searching, heated kiss. Their hands wandered under shirts, slicking along skin before pulling clothes off and dropping them carelessly. Their lips and tongues roamed, discovering tender spots behind ears and under jaws, along necks and down each others' chests.

Jim lifted up enough to slip off slacks and boxers before tugging at Len's zipper. Len lifted enough to allow Jim to pull his trousers and underwear down to his knees. Jim pushed him down on the couch and pressed himself down atop him, their erections rubbing together as they ground their hips. They were being consumed in a flash-fire of desire, out of control and each was unwilling to slow down for tender love-making after years of suppressed desire. There would be time for slow indulgence later; now they just wanted release.

Len reached between them to wrap his hand around their cocks, pressing them tight as Jim rocked against Len. Jim gasped at the friction of the heads driving across each other and reached a hand to interlace his fingers with Len's, working together to grip their erections. Jim went back to Len's mouth, his tongue mimicking intercourse as he drove it against Len's as their teeth clashed and their breath mingled.

Jim tensed, his balls pulling up tight and hard and he groaned as he pulsed, striping Len's stomach, come dripping over their hands and Len's cock before Len gasped and his cock twitched. He arched up into Jim as his release mixed with Jim's and Jim collapsed on Len's chest, pinning their hands between their bodies, still wrapped around their softening cocks.

When they came down from their orgasms, and were able to move, they sat up. Len stripped off his boots, and got his trousers and underwear off, leaving them to lie with the rest of their clothes. They showered, indulging in a water shower, soaping and rinsing each other, before toweling each other dry. Collapsing on Jim's bed, they curled up together, wrapped around each other like so many times before.

“Not ever lettin' you go, kid.”

“Good. You know, I never knew what it meant until now, but I feel like I've come home. I finally have a home.”

**Author's Note:**

> It should go without saying that I don't know or own or profit from these characters. I'm just amusing myself. I apologize for the comma-abuse and other grammar sins. If you see something that needs to be corrected and you feel like telling me, I'll be happy to fix it. Also, I apologize for my inability to write porn well.


End file.
